[WPC] Activist Alert: August 5th - 15th

[Washington Peace Center]

-- The Activist Alert has been updated for this week. Please check our
web site: washingtonpeacecenter.org.

Please take special note of these activities for the Washington Peace Center

60th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing of Japan
August 5th-8th
various, see below
A weekend of events to commemorate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki, Japan on August 6th & 9th, 1945 have been planned by three 
pillars of the Washington anti-war movement: the Washington Peace 
Center, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee and the D.C. Antiwar Network 
(DAWN). Friday, August 5th: Breaking from tradition, instead of the 
vigil usually held at the Lincoln Memorial on the evening of August 5th 
to commemorate the exact time of the dropping of the first bomb on 
Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. Japan time, this year's August 5th event will 
feature a spirited rally in front of the Shell hydrogen filling station 
at Anacostia & Benning Roads, NE (Minnesota Ave. Metro) to protest Bush 
administration plans for a plutonium/hydrogen economy. "Making hydrogen 
gas requires enormous energy," explains Friday's event organizer 
Michelle Tingling-Clemmons. "The Bush team wants to build new nuclear 
power plants to make hydrogen, creating by-products of weapons-grade 
plutonium, depleted uranium, and high-level nuclear waste." President 
Bush in the past has visited this hydrogen station in an effort to 
promote hydrogen as an alternative fuel. Organizers plan to educate the 
community on the direct link between hydrogen and nuclear power, and to 
highlight the dangers of having this station next to an elementary 
school. Saturday, August 6th: The groups are planning an eclectic mix of 
poets, musicians, dancers and speakers in Lafayette Park on Saturday 
from noon to 2:00 pm. Event organizers seek to draw attention to Bush 
administration policies they say make nuclear war likely. Activists 
involved with the weekend's events plan to highlight current military 
policies utilizing radioactive materials as weapons. The atomic bombing 
of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 claimed 140,000 lives and marked the 
dawning of the nuclear age. "And now the Bush team is spreading more 
radioactivity in Iraq with depleted uranium weapons," said veteran 
organizer Ellen Thomas. Ellen Thomas 202-682-4282 et at nucnews.net

Organizing for September 24th Anti-War Mobilizations is under way in
earnest. Please keep up to date by consulting our website or by
contacting our office.

Also, looking for folks who might volunteer to help us with a revamped
plan for electronic communication, website, listserves & the like

Please contact our office, 202-234-2000 or wpc at igc.org


Peace,
Nancy Shia
Paul Magno

Co-ordinators

Washington Peace Center
1426 9th St NW #306
Washington, DC 20001
(202)234-2000 / 234-7064 (fax)
www.washingtonpeacecenter.org